Wireless battery management system for electric vehicles

Analog Devices has announced what is claimed to be the industry’s first wireless battery management system (wBMS), which allows automotive manufacturers improved flexibility to scale their electric vehicle fleets into volume production over a broad scope of vehicle classes. This is the first wireless battery management system offered for production electric vehicles, and it will debut on General Motors’ production vehicles powered by Ultium batteries.

The execution of the company's wBMS removes the conventional wired harness, saving up to 90% of the wiring and up to 15% of the volume in the battery pack, and improves design flexibility and manufacturability, with no compromise to range and accuracy over the life of the battery.

The new system comprises all integrated circuits, hardware and software for power, RF communication, battery management, and system functions in a single system-level product that supports ASIL-D safety and module-level security building upon the company’s proven industry-leading BMS battery cell measurement technology. By providing high accuracy for the lifetime of the vehicle, the system allows maximum energy use per cell needed for best vehicle range. It supports safe and sustainable zero-cobalt battery chemistries, such as lithium iron phosphate.

“The transition of battery packs from wired to wireless connectivity enables automotive manufacturers to scale their electric vehicle platforms across multiple vehicle models to meet growing consumer demand,” said Patrick Morgan, vice president, Automotive at Analog Devices. “Our wBMS solution not only simplifies manufacturing but also allows new systems to be built on wireless data, accelerating the entire industry towards a sustainable future. We are honoured to bring this breakthrough system innovation to market with General Motors.”

“We are pleased to collaborate with ADI to take the wBMS technology to production as part of our ground-breaking Ultium battery platform,” said Kent Helfrich, executive director, Global Electrification and Battery Systems at General Motors. “ADI’s wBMS technology enables the more widespread electrification of our fleet, and we look forward to a continued collaboration with ADI to deliver innovation in safety, quality, and performance for the future.”